Violet Days: On their debut EP ‘‘Made In My Head’’ and working on the next phase of their music project

For artist Lina Hansson, there was never any other option on the table besides music. ‘‘I’ve always been involved somehow because my family was very musical and they have always played music for me when I was a kid. So it has always been something that I’ve been interested in,’’ she says. However, it all clicked for her at age 13 when she realized that she could write her own songs after she started learning to play guitar. ‘‘It totally made sense for me to work with music. That was when I found all these cool artists that I loved. I was always listening to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack for example,’’ she laughs. ‘‘Then I got Avril Lavigne’s first single Complicated, and I was super inspired by that music. I started trying to write my own stories to make my own songs.’’

‘‘I met Kris (Eriksson) six years ago. The band used to be called ‘Violet’ only, and we were playing more rock leaning stuff,’’ Lina explains on how Violet Days happened. When they began working together, they first tried to define the sound of their music project, and they ultimately ended up making the transition from rock to pop music. ‘‘Then we changed the name to ‘Violet Days’ because we wanted to start all over again with a new sound,’’ she adds. To Lina, finding themselves lyrically and sonically was for sure a challenge. ‘‘It’s like everything. It’s not always simple. I guess the hardest part is to please ourselves because we aim high and we want to be perfect. That’s what is taking time — to know when you’re done with something because you can work on something forever,’’ she laughs.

Today, Violet Days is well-known for offering emotional, dreamy, pop and edgy tracks that we can find in their latest EP ‘‘Made In My Head’’ which reflects the culmination of years of collaboration and experimentation shared between Lina and her partner Kris. ‘‘I guess it’s a matter of keeping yourself inspired when you write music,’’ she says when talking about their long-standing creative bond which allows them to come up with a magical soundscape. ‘‘When Kris and I are writing a song in the studio, we like to watch a video of something to get us inspired, to be able to create that soundscape that makes us feel something. But we also try to touch stories from new angles, and we try to be as honest as possible in the lyrics. It’s interesting and a challenge, for sure. But we wanted to be dreamy and we want people to feel something when they hear the music.’’

With their EP ‘‘Made In My Head” that came out last October, Lina and Kris were interested in telling a story about questioning ourselves, the things we go through, and the ups and downs that we create in our head. ‘‘We were talking about how we should name it, and we just wanted something that felt true and that describes the whole thing. ‘Made In My Head’ just felt right and that was a good sum up of what the EP is about.’’ Composed of seven tracks, ‘‘Made In My Head’’ contains songs that have been hold for the past couple of years. ‘‘It has been a long journey to finish the whole thing and to find our concept,’’ Lina states. Starting in a soft way with the track ‘‘The first time we met’’ that lasts thirty-three seconds, the entire EP is a story and a journey that we are invited to follow. ‘‘When you listen to it, you get set up in the right mood for the songs coming. That was the idea — to put like an emotion before you hear the songs.’’

When asking about Lina’s favorite song, she admits she has a special relationship with all the songs. Nevertheless, she describes the commanding breakup anthem ‘‘I Think’’ as an important one for her. ‘‘I wanted to write about that feeling when you can’t let somebody go from your past, that feeling when you keep seeing that person everywhere, and even if you are in different countries, you think you see them everywhere because you can’t stop thinking about them,’’ she explains. ‘‘It was just a fun angle of the story to write about and I feel like it could be very relatable to people as well.’’

While the next face of Violet Days is getting more revealed, Lina aspires to tour and play more festivals in the future. She also hopes that more people can to find Violet Days’ music and connect to it. ‘‘It’s an ever-changing project. I feel like we always move forward with it. We’re trying not to get stuck at one point, so we’re always trying to introduce a new thing in our sound, or to set something we haven’t set before,’’ she tells. ‘‘We’re trying to keep the soundscape fresh, and keep surprising people with whatever we’re doing. It has been changing over time, from the rocker and edgier sound to indie pop. Now we’re heading a little more to throwback vibes in the music.’’